Chapter 49

[ 1,534 words ]

By the time Iris reached the Business Administration building, students were already gathering in the hallway. She adjusted the strap of her bag over her shoulder and walked toward her classroom.

Then she saw the one person she didn’t want to see at all….Jason. He was standing directly outside the classroom door. Iris stopped for half a second, a small, involuntary hitch in her step. Of all the people she could have encountered on her first morning back, he was the one person she had hoped never to see.

Jason looked as though he had been waiting for some time. His blond hair was slightly tousled, and he wore the university’s basketball training jacket over his clothes.

Once upon a time, seeing him waiting for her would have made her heart race for an entirely different reason and she’d blush and feel like she had the sun at the palm of her hands.

Now, a weariness settled deeper into her bones, heavy and dull. She lowered her gaze, fixing it on a scuff mark on the polished linoleum, and continued toward the classroom as though he wasn’t there.

Jason noticed her immediately. A broad, easy smile, the kind that used to make her knees a little weak, spread across his face. “Iris.”

She kept walking, her pace unwavering, trying to project an aura of total unawareness.

“Iris, wait.” His voice, a little sharper this time, cut through the low hum of student chatter.

She finally stopped, though she didn’t turn around. Her shoulders remained squared, her head held high. “What?” The word was clipped, a breath of irritation.

Jason hurried toward her, his footsteps too quick, too eager. He closed the distance in a few strides, casting a long shadow beside her. “I really need to talk to you.”

“Not now, Jason. I have a class to attend to.” She gestured vaguely toward the door with her chin, making to step around him.

He moved, surprisingly fast, blocking her path entirely. His hands, clad in the familiar university colors, settled on the doorframe above her head, effectively caging her. “I said I need to talk to you.”

“And I said I have a class.” Her voice was low, laced with a familiar exasperation. She tried to pivot around him, but he simply shifted, an impenetrable wall.

Then his hand was on her arm, his fingers closing around her forearm with a possessive familiarity that made her skin crawl. Iris immediately looked down at his hand, her gaze cold and steady.

“Let go of me, Jason.” It wasn’t a request.

“Never, and I’m not taking no for an answer.” His voice was a low murmur, but the conviction in it was absolute.

Her eyes lifted to his, a flicker of something dangerously close to defiance hardening them. “You really need to stop deciding what I can and cannot say.”

Jason leaned in slightly, his voice dropping to an almost conspiratorial whisper, as if the bustling hallway wasn’t full of curious onlookers.

“Iris, please. Just give me a chance to explain everything properly. Just hear me out.”

“Explain what, exactly?” Her tone was flat, devoid of any genuine curiosity.

“The situation with Vanessa.”

A bitter, humorless laugh escaped her, a soft, dry sound. “There is nothing left to explain, Jason. I told you everything I wanted to say. We’re through. That was definitive, wasn’t it?”

She glanced toward the classroom. Students were beginning to enter, a steady stream flowing past them, and several had already noticed their little tableau, their conversations faltering, gazes lingering. Jason seemed to notice the attention as well, a slight tightening around his mouth.

“I know you’re angry, Iris, but if you can just hear everything from my side… you’ll understand. Please, Iris.” His grip on her arm tightened almost imperceptibly.

“I’m not angry, Jason. I’m just tired.” She gently, but firmly, tried to pull her arm free again, a subtle tug that he easily resisted. “I’m tired of having the same conversation with you. It’s over.”

Jason didn’t release her. “Then promise me you’ll talk to me after class. Just a few minutes, that’s all I’m asking.”

“I don’t have time for this.” Her eyes darted away, searching for an escape route, a way to dissolve this public spectacle.

“You’ll have time after this class. It’s the only one you’re having today anyway, isn’t it?” He stated it as a fact, not a question, his knowledge of her schedule a chilling reminder of how entwined their lives had once been.

“Jason—”

“I know this professor is supposed to be introducing himself today. I know it’s important. I’m not asking you to skip it.” His grip tightened slightly, a non-verbal emphasis. “I’m asking you to give me twenty minutes afterward. That’s all. Twenty minutes.”

Iris’s brow furrowed, a faint line appearing between her eyebrows. “And how the hell do you know what’s happening in my department? This is Business Administration, not yours.” The surprise was genuine, a crack in her carefully constructed indifference.

He offered a small, knowing smirk, a glint in his eye. “Come on, Iris. I’d know everything I want to know about you. You know that.”

Iris looked around the hallway, more people were watching now, their whispers growing in volume, a low hum of curiosity. She could feel the prickle of their stares.

The last thing she wanted was to become the center of campus gossip on the first day of the semester, especially not with him. She closed her eyes briefly, a tiny sigh escaping her lips, a concession of sheer exhaustion rather than agreement. “Fine.”

Jason’s expression immediately softened, the tension in his shoulders easing. “You promise?”

Her eyes snapped open, a sharp, clear glint in them. “Yes. I’ll talk to you after class.” The words were delivered with the flat finality of a decree.

A slow, triumphant smile spread across his face, lighting up his features. “Thank you.”

He moved closer to her, his body language signalling an intent she recognized all too well….the intent to kiss her. But Iris instinctively stepped backward, a swift, almost imperceptible movement, and Jason stopped, a fraction of an inch from her.

“I only wanted to—”

“Don’t even think about it.” Her voice was low, barely a whisper, but there was no mistaking the steel beneath it, the quiet warning that promised swift retaliation if he dared. “I don’t want you touching me.”

Jason’s jaw clenched, his smile faltering for a beat, but he raised both hands slightly, an exaggerated gesture of surrender.

“All right. I understand.” His smile returned, the same charming, practiced expression that had once made half the university girls sigh whenever he walked past. “I’ll behave.”

Iris said nothing, simply held his gaze, her expression unreadable.

“Talk to you after class.” He finally dropped his hands from the doorframe, taking a half-step back.

She turned toward the door, her shoulders dropping slightly, a silent exhale. For one second, she thought it was over, that she had managed to extract herself with minimal damage.

Then Jason moved. His strong arm wrapping around her waist, pulling her flush against him. Her breath hitched, before she could react, his other hand was in her hair, turning her face, firm grip that tugged her back toward him. His lips pressed against hers, taking that kiss he had wanted earlier, a quick, almost brutal assertion of lingering claim.

She gasped, a small, choked sound. Iris froze in shock, her entire body rigid. Her hands instinctively flew up, pushing against his chest, a desperate, inarticulate sound escaping her throat. “Mmm—Jason!”

But he was immovable. The kiss was possessive, a blatant assertion of his will, and she felt a fresh wave of humiliation wash over her, exacerbated by the sharp, curious glances now openly directed their way.

He held her for only a few seconds, a fleeting moment that stretched into an eternity, before finally releasing her. Iris stumbled backward, her hand flying to her mouth, her eyes wide, disbelieving, fixed on him.

The hallway seemed to suddenly fall silent, the hum of conversations fading into an unnatural quiet, despite the students still moving around them, their heads now turned. Jason looked at her, his golden-boy smile back in full force, utterly unrepentant.

“I’ll wait for you.”

Iris stared at him, her chest heaving, her hand curled into a fist at her side, nails digging into her palm.

Every instinct told her to slap him, to wipe that arrogant smirk off his face. She wanted to make him understand, with undeniable clarity, that whatever relationship they had once shared was over, that he no longer had the right to touch her simply because he wanted to.

But she refused to give the growing crowd what they so clearly wanted – a spectacle, a drama. Not today, and certainly not here.

So she swallowed her anger, a bitter, metallic taste in her mouth, straightened her blouse with a precise, almost robotic movement, and walked past him without another word, her stride purposeful, her head held high, leaving the hushed whispers and curious stares in her wake.

Jason watched her go, a lingering, possessive glint in his eyes.

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